Solved the riddle of the galaxy Henize 2-10

For some time there was talk of this mysterious black hole found at the center of the galaxy 30 million light from us. The researchers come with new confirmations and future observations that will be able to understand more about the birth of galaxies in the early Universe.
In 2011: the galaxy Henize 2-10 hides a supermassive black hole at its center. But by the time of its discovery there has always been an air of mystery surrounding this object. The irregular galaxy is 30 million light years away from us and it was classified as a dwarf galaxy because of small size, 3000 light years extension (the Milky Way has a diameter of 100,000 light years). Its features, combined with a high rate of star formation, also make it a perfect case study of the primordial galaxies, that are the firsts that have formed in our Universe.

Credit: NASA

“This dwarf galaxy is about 10% of our Milky Way. At first glance it looks like a blob, but surprisingly it hides a central black hole, “said Ryan Hickox, second author of the study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Hickox said there may be small galaxies similar in the known Universe, but this is one of the few close enough that it can be studied easily. The team of researchers led by Thomas Whalen has analyzed a series of four X-ray observations of Henize 2-10 with three space telescopes made during more than 13 years, providing the ultimate proof of the existence of a black hole. The instruments used are the Japanese Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics (1997), the XMM-Newton European Space Agency’s (2004, 2011) and the Chandra X-ray Observatory of NASA (2001).
“The galaxy was bright in 2001, but has faded over time,” said Hickox. And this means that there must be another source of energy in addition to the star formation process. The researchers immediately thought of a small supermassive black hole – small compared to larger supermassive blacks holes in massive elliptical galaxies, but a million times the mass of the sun. What makes it special is that these holes blacks change with time ” and this is what he found Tom Whalen, “Hickox said adding:” This variability certainly tells us that the issue is coming from a compact at the center of this system, in line with a supermassive black hole. ” As is known, most of the holes blacks is located at the center of galaxies, for the accuracy at the center of the so-called “bulb” galactic (bulge in English) of which, however, is devoid Henixe 2-10. For that until recently it was thought that the galaxy could not have a black hole inside. But it has been proved the opposite. But where does the black hole? “When making simulations on the origin of galaxies, we must first insert holes blacks put into these holes blacks at first, but we do not know the initial conditions. These dwarf starburst galaxies are specimens closer to us that can help us understand what it was like the early Universe, “said Whalen.
The first author has also stated: “Our results confirm that galaxies close to us with a star formation process in place can form holes blacks, it follows that equally could have happened to them similar in the early universe.”